This thesis is comprised of two articles, bookended an introductory chapter and a closing chapter. The first article is called “Are We Heading in the Right Direction?: An Attribute Analysis of Physical Literacy Assessment Tools” and the second one “Physical Literacy, Interactivity, and Communication: Emergent Teacher Understandings.” This is a viewpoint that analyzes what attributes of physical literacy (Whitehead, 2010; 2019), were exemplified or overlooked in three Canadian physical literacy assessment tools used by teachers, coaches, parents, and students. The analyzed tools included the Canadian Assessment of Physical Literacy (CAPL) developed by the Healthy Active Living and Obesity (HALO) Research Group, PlayTools: Play Fun developed by Sport for Life (S4L), and Passport for Life developed by Physical and Health Education (PHE) Canada. In conclusion, all three tools included assessments of Motivation, Confidence, Competence, Awareness, and Understanding. However, only Passport for Life assessed all of Whitehead’s (2019) attributes yet, not in equal amounts. The second article aimed at describing the emergent understandings of the concept of physical literacy from the perspective of new and seasoned teachers interested in PE. By means of the exploration, recollection, and description of a vivid interactive and relationally oriented pedagogical physical activity understandings of physical literacy were described. Motion-sensing phenomenological interviews with three participants were carried out to better understand what the concept of physical literacy meant in their everyday practice. Recommendations for future research were that more attention could be placed on the least developed aspects of physical literacy, bodily communication and the role it plays in forming relational connections between students and teachers.

This phenomenological research study examined the perceived experiences of K-12 queer school leaders in school workplaces. This study discussed events, state laws, workplace polices, and related repeated studies that demonstrate that K-12 queer school leaders experience challenges in school spaces because of their sexual and/or gender identities. The sample population for this study consisted of 10 participants. The data collection consisted of a recruitment survey, individual interviews, and document review of state laws and policies. The analysis of data included survey data, transcribed interviews, and document reviews. The data were coded and triangulated for reliability and the analysis was guided by queer theory, script theory, and Foucault’s work on perspectives on power-knowledge. There were three key findings that emerged: queer school leaders’ suitability, queer negotiations in school spaces, and institutionalized homophobia and gender-based prejudices in the school spaces. The results contemporaneously indicate that policy, procedures, practices, and hegemonic power constitute the producers and pushers of an institutionalize cis/hetero-patriarchy narrative. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2020. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Thesis advisor: Richard . Kearney / This work responds to the question of community at an ontological level before notions such as identity and subjectivity have been assumed. I ask the question of community in terms of the principles that give rise to the being-togetherness of people. Modern philosophy’s responses are famously a version of Laws, social contracts, universal definitions, ideals, and values. Post-enlightenment philosophy assumes such categories as laws, norms, and religions across the board, applying them to all gatherings of peoples. Especially with respect to the Islamic community, and more particularly during the colonial era, categories such as religion and religious laws were used by orientalists to define Muslims, non-Muslims, and different sectors among them.  Against this background, this work attempts to study the gathering of “a people” and the genesis of the laws at an ontological level. This approach will ultimately show how one’s interpretation of the existence of beings in general reflects one’s reading of the legal or political gatherings in particular. I will argue that Heideggerian and post-Heideggerian phenomenology can serve as allies since they have already initiated this line of questioning by their radical critique of the authority of the subject. Heidegger separates his way from the mainstream phenomenology by formulating his critique of subjectivity by way of reviving the Greek, especially Aristotle’s philosophy. Through what he calls Destruktion, or deconstruction of the tradition, he shows that the above-mentioned modern formulations of the self and the world are ultimately based on a certain scholastic reading of Aristotle, which reduces all meanings of being to a categorial one.  Derrida carries this critique of identity over to the ethical and political realm. He investigates human beings’ interpretive relation to “otherness” by replacing identity or self with “following.” The “otherness” that we are in “following” can be a god, another human being, the animals and the environment, or the tradition of the past. In all these relationships, the hermeneutic strategy towards “otherness” is principally the same. Derrida’s suggestion for the most authentic mode of ‘following’ is deconstruction itself. He shows that there are the same schematic formulations involved in explaining the coming-to-be and gathering of things in nature as are involved with “a people” in a community. The genesis and the function of laws are the same in the creation of events and bodies in a natural world as the actions and productions in a political and ethical realm.  Following such a critique, especially through Derrida’s deconstruction, I try to reveal the forces in Aristotle’s text that can potentially lead to two different formulations of the gathering of a people. For Aristotle, the notions of hylomorphism and teleology explain the genesis of multiplicity and difference. In the political and ethical realm, these principles give rise to the constitution of a just “exchange community.”  The critique of these notions opens the door for alternative modes of gathering. By questioning the predetermined end (telos), I will suggest that the generation of multiplicity and gatherings become “nomadic.” Thus, deconstruction as the most authentic attitude towards “otherness,” when applied to Aristotle’s teleology, turns into “nomadic distribution” and “nomadic following” of the other.  As an example of the effect of this critique and its actual ethical and legal consequence, in the history of philosophy and among actual communities, I examine the genesis of gatherings and laws in Islam and among Muslims. I explain what it means to “follow” the other in nature and in human society in Islam. Finally, I examine what it means to be a nomadic follower of the laws of Islam. I argue that the rituals of Islam, like Hajj, illustrate the being of Muslims as the followers of otherness in the most explicit way. The analysis of Hajj reveals the conflict of laws and justice because the ritual is not about mere obedience to laws. Instead, through performing it, Muslims are led to contemplate and wonder about their relationship to God, nature, and their fellow human beings. In Hajj, the nature of “following” is illustrated and brought to light. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2019. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Philosophy.

David Lewin, in his 1986 article “Music Theory, Phenomenology, and Modes of Perception,” offers a promising methodological approach for the analysis of tonal music from a phenomenological perspective. Lewin’s phenomenological method has a propensity to render seemingly contradictory readings in such a way that their respective validities can be preserved by articulating them within differentiated contexts. Expanding upon Lewin’s phenomenological work with analyzing tonal music, I propose that a phenomenological investigation of an atonal song, Webern op. 3, no. 1, from within a variety of differentiated contexts can shed light upon what it means to perceive a piece of music as being “not in a key.” This thesis will open with an introduction to Lewin’s phenomenological work and the writings of Edmund Husserl and Izchak Miller that Lewin used as a point of departure. The analysis of Webern op. 3, no. 1, that follows will regard the voice and piano parts as differentiated musical contexts in order to investigate the interaction between these contexts as they generally undermine the perception of tonality in the song. Finally, the notion of a “musical context” as an organizing factor of musical perception will be expanded to include the different analytical approaches of Olli Väisälä and Elmar Budde as they interact to reveal contrasting aspects of the song’s multivalent structure.

No description available.

How do we persist over time: What conditions need to be fulfilled for us to remain the same person from one moment to the next? Two theories have dominated the debate for a longtime: the physical and psychological approaches, which are centred on sameness of body and sameness of psychology, respectively. This thesis will focus on a third theory, the phenomenal approach, which defines persistence as the sameness of consciousness. That is, what is required for persistence is a continuous stream of consciousness. In part 1, I will present and analyse two different arguments that advocate for the phenomenal approach and I will also offer criticism for each argument individually. In part 2 I will present criticism that is directed to both arguments and the view as a whole. I will argue that the phenomenal approach to personal identity over time is an intuitive and convincing alternative at first glance but after deeper analysis it is an inadequate and unsatisfactory argument for personal persistence. Both arguments defend the capacity for consciousness as the condition for persistence but neither is able to define what has the capacity for consciousness and how it could persist without consciousness in a meaningful way.

This dissertation provides a theoretical analysis and examination of the role of imagination in the formation of an environmental ethos. The majority of ethical theories in environmental thought largely neglect the role that imagination plays in both the relationships that humans form with their environment, and the subsequent role that imagination plays in constituting the way that those relationships are understood ethically. To explore the role of imagination in constituting and subsequently projecting such an ethical way of being, this dissertation selectively analyzes the history of imagination in philosophy, cognitive science, and environmental thought. In addition, this dissertation also explores the role that images play in forming collective responses to environmental disasters, and the further role that imagination plays in overcoming the moral motivation gap.

Objective: Phenomenological and treatment differences between children and adolescents with bipolar I disorder in a public mental health system were examined. Method: A systematic medical record review was performed on a sample of 83 patients, focusing on documented DSM IV symptoms of mania or depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, conduct disorder, schizophrenia, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Cross-tabulation and logistic regression analyses were performed comparing the presence/absence of symptoms for each disorder and treatments provided for children and adolescents. Results: Prepubertal patients were significantly more likely to be male, easily distracted, inattentive, detached from others, hyper-vigilant, prescribed stimulant medication, and to meet the diagnostic criteria for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder or Conduct Disorder than adolescents. Conclusions: Consistent with the published literature, phenomenological differences between children and adolescents are present and being recognized for differential diagnosis and treatment by community practitioners. More attention to documenting some cardinal symptoms of mania, the persistence of bipolar symptoms, and the nature of cycling for those with mixed states is needed.

Although Canada is a bilingual country, official language minority community patients struggle to access quality care in their language. This reality has been of concern for Francophone minority communities in Ontario, but has seldom been examined in a nursing context. This research sought to examine the lived experiences of registered nurses and nursing students providing care to French-speaking patients in Ontario, as well as the realities of Francophone patients seeking French language health care services in Ontario. The conceptual frameworks guiding the study were the “Four Levels of Change for Improving Quality” model and the “Four-Level Model of the Health Care System.” Using qualitative phenomenological inquiry, as influenced by Martin Heidegger and Max van Manen, 31 semi-structured interviews were conducted with three subsets (n=10 Francophone patients; n=10 nursing students; n=11 registered nurses) throughout Ontario who had experience with the phenomenon being investigated. Data collection took place over a year (2018-2019) and was analysed thematically. Significant findings were identified across the three groups. Participants revealed the patchwork of individual actions taking place to remedy the existing gaps regarding care for Francophone minority populations. This included navigating a health care system where good enough care was the unfortunate standard for Francophone patients, and discussing how Francophone patients and nursing care providers implement strategies individually to manage the lack of resources for Francophone patient populations in Ontario. This thesis asserts that official language minority communities and their nursing care providers remain faced with difficulties providing and receiving care in Ontario. While numerous structures and resources exist to remediate the problems, these interventions and resources are not always implemented systemically, leading to a disproportionate burden on individuals, significant risks for safety for patient populations, and ethical dilemmas for nursing care providers. Recommendations are provided to bridge the gaps and ensure considerations of the needs of linguistic minorities throughout the health care system.

This phenomenological study explored the role of end-of-course examinations on teachers’ decision-making on curriculum and instruction through a comparative analysis of teachers who taught courses with end-of-course examinations and teachers who taught courses with locally created assessments (LCA). This study examined the experiences of nine teachers in a small school district located on the east-central coast of Florida. The study’s theoretical framework drew on Bourdieu’s (1972/1977) tools of habitus, capital, practice, and fields to explain the role of education in the reproduction of social system. The study examined how standardized testing shaped teachers’ use of habitus and capital to determine their practice in their curriculum, instruction, relationships in different educational fields, morale, and perspectives on teacher evaluation. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2020. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection